The Laois-Offaly Fine Gael TD, Mr Tom Enright, has announced he will not contest the next general election.
The Birr-based deputy, first elected to Dail Eireann in 1969, announced his decision to party members in Birr and Tullamore last night. Mr Enright had been selected to represent Fine Gael in nine general elections over a 28year period in the five-seat rural constituency.
A solicitor, he was elected to Dail Eireann on eight occasions but lost his seat in 1992. Having served as a senator in the intervening period, he recaptured his Dail seat in the 1997 general election.
It is understood that his daughter, Ms Olwyn Enright, an Offaly County Council member, could now seek a Fine Gael nomination.